It starts at one point, travels across the paper to different locations, and ends when it is finished "mapping" out the subject. A line can be fat and blunt or thin and wiry, sketching and halting or flowing and confident. Any kind of line we draw with is going to be individual. Just as each of us signs our name in an individual way, so a line is like the persoanl signature of the artist who drew it.
Challenge
Turning Point
1. Make a flowing line that loops freely around the page.
2. At the furthest point of each loop, drop a "connecting" line. This will become the edge of the ribbon when it turns.
3. Make a line which goes parallel to your first line. Be careful that it turns to exactly meet each edge.
Next Point
4. Erase one part of the line to determine its curve.
5. Now you can emphasize important lines.
6. ...and develop your drawing with light and dark.
Success
Ribbons
3 part video
Make Changes
Once you've tried one now create another more complicated one.
Erase and recreate lines that are thicker in places and thinner in others.
Try bringing out negative spaces and emphasizing others.
On the back, divide your sheet into 4 sections again using 3 lines.
This time exert pressure at ONE point in each loop to achieve a spatial "tunnel-like" effect
To write, we use very small, tight lines. For drawing, you need to get used to using your hand in a very different way. You may find that using the entire arm, instead of the wrist, will enable you to become looser and more assured in your drawings. Think FLUIDITY and CONTROL!
First: Divide your paper into 4 strips, by making 3 lines.
Second: Starting on one side, make even loops with a continuous, flowing line, using EVEN pressure
is probably the most important element in drawing.
Line
Lines can define space and form on the page. They can provide boundaries between shapes, and they can also map out the territory within a form. In Michelangelo's drawings, we saw the flat piece of paper become transformed by this use of line. Out of the two-dimensional paper, a three-dimensional figure seems to appear and then may fade away, all depending on the kinds of lines he uses. When he wants to emphasize a part of his drawings, he will darken the line. Or he will go over the same line several times to bring a form into sharper focus. In other areas, his lines will fade and soften leaving only an
impression
of the form.
Michelangelo's drawings show how a line's course can guide your eye in and out, stopping at intersecetions that contain important details.
Background photo by t.shigesa